Pneumatic furniture assembling press



April 8, 1952 F. c. VALlTON ET AL PNEUMATIC FURNITURE ASSEMBLING PRESS 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 38 1, 3b Juiumuv 28 ilk.

EEEEE Filed Oct. 13, 1947 flue-Z 6: 252? M72121; HHoby Mfg? I April 1952 F. c. VALITON ET AL 2,592,360

PNEUMATIC FURNITURE ASSEMBLING PRESS Filed on. 15, 1947 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2 Patented Apr. 8, i952 PNEUMATIC FURNITURE ASSEMBLING 1 mass Frederick C. Valiton, South Ashburnham, and

William H. Hobby, Gardner, Mass.

Application ctober 13, 1947, Serial No. 779,522

This inventionrelates'to a new and, improved press for assembling workpieces, such as for instance, furniture; and the principal object of the invention includes the provision of novel means for pressing furniture members togetherso as to assemble the members into a complete article of furniture, the pressing means comprising pneumatic or fluid pressure cylinders which are easily and quickly individually and selectively adjustable for the purpose of providing pressing action on, for instance, furniture members of unequal lengths, and also for-assembling different articles such as articles of furniture of different sizes.

Further objects of the invention reside in the provision of a pneumatic furniture assembling press comprising a frame on which the article of furniture is adapted to be supported between upright standards on the frame, said standards supporting a platform on which are adjustably mounted for vertical adjustment a plurality of pneumatic or fluid pressure cylinders each of which is provided with a depending piston rod extending through the platform and secured to a pressure header, the latter being guided on the standards for vertical movement so as to impart a generally vertical pressure on, for instance, chair legs being assembled to a seat, whereby the cylinders may be variously and selectively adjustable for the purpose of accommodating articles of furniture having different lengths of legs and articles of furniture of various sizes and shapes.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a press embodying the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation.

The present invention is particularly adapted for the improved and faster assembly of articles of furniture but the invention is not limited to furniture assembly and may be used wherever desired without departing from the scope of the invention.

There is provided a framework It! which may assume the form shown or any other form required and having a top plate l2 secured to the frame by any desired means and serving as a work support as, for instance, for a chair generally indicated at l4 positioned in inverted relation thereon. For purposes of illustration this article of furniture is shown as having legs l6 and I8 of different lengths and it should be 2 Claims. 7 (c1. Ma -289) realized; that thedevice herein illustrated not .only-willaccommodate chairs but other articles of furniture having different lengths of. less and of difierent sizes.

Rising from the work support [2 there are a plurality of standards 20 which sup-port at their tops a fixed platform 22 which is seen to be disposed directly over pairs of screw studs 24 and 25, each stu'd being provided with a nut 28 in mesh therewith and rotatable for vertical adjustment thereon by means of ehains30 so that each pair of nuts on -each'pair of studs will be raised or lowered simultaneously and evenly.

The nuts 28 in pairs support a pair of platforms 32 and 34 which are vertically adjustable with the nuts, and each platform supports a power cylinder 36 and 38 for adjustment with the supports 32.

Each cylinder is provided with a depending piston rod 40, the lower end of which terminates below the platform and as a matter of fact, the piston rods extend through the platform 22. At its lower end each piston rod is equipped with a pressure header 42 and 44, each of which may be provided with pads 45 for the purpose of engaging the ends of the legs of the article of furniture without marring the same. Each header 42 and 44 is provided at its ends with guides 48, which receive the standards 20 and are slidable thereon. Each cylinder is provided with air or fluid inlet and outlet pipes 5|] and a foot operated valve 52. In Fig. 1 these valves are shown in spaced relation for clarity of illustration but it is recognized that these may be placed close together for convenient operation by a single operator.

In order to assemble the legs of the chair as a unit to the chair seat, it is merely necessary to place the seat of the chair and the leg frame in position and operate the valves 52 so as to actuate the cylinders 36 and 38 to bring down the headers 42 and 44 under pressure so that the tenons on the lower ends of the chair legs will be forced into the corresponding mortices in the seat.

As shown in the drawings, the two cylinders have been properly adjusted so as to impart simultaneous and equal pressure on the shorter legs l8 and the longer legs It so that the entire leg frame including the spindles may be assembled in a single operation rather than in the multiple operations of the prior art, thus speeding up assembly and lessening the cost of manufacture. If the chair legs are all the same length the thearticle being worked on; Mounted on the platform are a series of cylinders would be positioned in a single horizontal plane but it is to be noted that with the present invention any variation in the length of the legs in a single article of furniture is easily taken care of merely by adjusting the cylinders to the proper height. At the same time, chairs or other articles of furniture may be assembled where the articles are difierent, that is, a run of chairs such as that illustrated may be put through the assembling process; and then chairs, sofas or tables having widely different lengths of legs may also be processed but with an adjustment in the vertical height of the cylinders from the work support l2.

Having thus described our invention and the advantages thereof, we do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what we claim is:

l. A press of the class described comprising a frame for holding a work piece, upright standards on the frame, a platform on the standards, a pressure cylinder, adjustable means supporting the cylinder on and above the platform for varying the distance from the cylinder to the platform, a vertically operable piston rod extending downwardly from the cylinder and terminating below the platform, and a work piece engageable header secured to the piston rod adjacent the end of. the latter for pressing work pieces of different lengths located between the standards,

said means comprising a pair of spaced parallel screw studsarranged on the platform in upright condition, a nut for each stud, the cylinder being supported on the nuts, and means to rotate the nuts simultaneously.

2. A press for an article having two members of diflerent lengths to be pressed and comprising a frame to support the article, standards on the frame, a platform on the standards above the frame, a vertical pressure cylinder for each member, independently operated means to adjustably support the cylinders on the platform to vary the vertical positions of the cylinders with respect to the platform, a piston rod for each cylinder, said rods terminating below the platform, a pressing header for each rod below the platform, and means guiding the headers on the standards, so that each header is selectively and individually adjustable and operable to accommodate a wide variety of articles, the cylinders and headers being spaced horizontally.

FREDERICK C. VALITON. WILLIAM H. HOBBY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date 

